Dressing up as a wind turbine at Glastonbury with Oxfam

By Lauren
I've always been interested in Oxfam's work. I was skimming through their website and discovered that they were looking for stewards for music festivals.

Oxfam gets paid over £100 per steward which they send to each festival. This money is then invested into their current projects, including aid relief and awareness campaigns. Each volunteer pays a deposit of £155 which is returned after they complete their 3 shifts. I simply thought: “why not?”

I wrote my application and a few weeks later I was accepted and ready to go off to the Leeds Festival. I had always wanted to go to the festivals and never seemed to have enough money, so this was a perfect opportunity for me.

As a first time festival go-er I got special priviledges, such as a separate camp site, toilets, showers, and even 3 free meals thrown in too!

I met a totally amazing group of people whilst at the festival and we have all kept in touch. Everyone was so friendly and made me feel at home. I completed 3 8 hour shifts, including one night shift which I admit was tough, but the camaraderie within the volunteers kept us going. In fact, we just didn't go to sleep!

I loved it so much I'm going to do it all over again this year, with all the people I met last year. I'm going to Glastonbury and Leeds, and I'm even dressing up as a wind turbine to help promote the climate change campaign.
Find out more about volunteering with Oxfam at www.oxfam.org.uk/generationwhy.